Photo: KJRSeattle · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Sequim (9.7%) is higher than in 94% of U.S. towns
Sequim grades D for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 6.8 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 94.7 in Seattle. About one in five work in Sequim itself; outside it, Port Angeles draws the most (12%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Sequim, in brief
Sequim is where the jobs are
Sequim has 4,371 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Sequim are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 27 across Washington. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Washington worker. Time on the road ↓
The biggest group of Sequim’s workers comes from Port Angeles
371 of the people who work in Sequim live in Port Angeles, 17 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
The four measures behind Sequim’s grade
The poverty rate holds Sequim’s grade up (12.9%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sequim could be anywhere from D to C.
Sequim fills up on a workday
On a workday 2,220 residents head out to work, 612 work right here, and 3,759 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,800 people are in Sequim on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 21 minutes each way, quicker than most of Washington
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sequim workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,939 commuters (the 15% who work from home are left out). Across Washington: 79% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Where Sequim’s workers come from
Where Sequim clocks in
12% of workers
7% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The kinds of work in Sequim
4,371 jobs are based in Sequim.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sequim, 2013 → 2023: 3,578 → 4,371. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sequim’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Sequim commutes less than 29 miles
About 31% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Sequim, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sequim is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns, #14 of 285 in Washington. Both inputs place Sequim near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,282 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 72% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 72% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 6.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 89% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 9.7% of Sequim households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Sequim’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sequim next to U.S. towns of 5,800 to 11,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 59 | Maltby WA | 10,910 | $185K | 3.9% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 115 | Normandy Park WA | 6,609 | $162K | 4.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 211 | Wollochet WA | 6,689 | $149K | 1.5% | 3.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,711 | Brownfield TX | 8,762 | $42K | 21.2% | 5.1% | 31% | D |
| 2,712 | Aurora MO | 7,686 | $50K | 18.1% | 7.1% | 16% | D |
| 2,713 | Sequim WA | 8,215 | $60K | 12.9% | 9.7% | 22% | D |
| 2,714 | Clanton AL | 9,289 | $48K | 18.1% | 7.1% | 23% | D |
| 2,715 | Kennett MO | 10,118 | $53K | 19.1% | 5.4% | 38% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,956 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Sequim, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
Next door to Sequim
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Sequim’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Sequim: questions
What is the median household income in Sequim?
$59,707 (±$6,687) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sequim?
12.9%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sequim?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sequim work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Port Angeles (12%, 17 mi), Seattle (7%, 46 mi), Blyn (3%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sequim walkable?
Sequim is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.2 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sequim without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 72% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sequim, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sequim
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.